Yogi Bhajan Lecture Archive
Lecture by :
Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji
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Lecture on: 02/01/1969
Category: Class Lectures
Location: Unknown
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Public

Awakening the Soul

I HAVE RECOGNIZED, WITH THE BLESSING OF MY MASTER , that it is possible to be healthy, to be happy, and to be holy while living in this society. But you must have energy so that your dead computer may live and pass on the signal to you, and may com­pute all that you want to do in this society. We call this energy, in the old science, kundalini, which has been blocked in mulad­hara, the lowest of all chakras, or lotuses.
These are imaginary things. Huge books have been written on them. These books misled me, too, for many years. Still, I learned about them, and about the chakras (or circles, as we call them in English). These books have put us in so many circles that we do not come out of it, and we reach nowhere. Yet, there is a way we can set our computer to be in direct contact with Him, the Biggest Computer, and all things must then work automatically. That can­not work until the kundalini, the spiritual nerve, breaks through the blockage at the muladhara, travels up, and reaches the stage that you may have Superconsciousness in Consciousness.
You must generate the pressure of the prana and mix it with the apana. Thus, when the two join together, you generate heat in the pranic center. With this heat of the prana, you put a pres­sure or charge on the kundalini, the soul nerve, which is coiled in three and a half circles on muladhara. (Kundal means “the curl of the hair of the beloved.” It does not mean snake or serpent.) This will awaken it so that it may pierce through the imaginary chakras and pass ultimately through jalandhara bandh—the Neck Lock—the final blockage in the spine before the energy reaches the head.

YOGA—JOINING THE TWO ENERGIES
Let me define a few terms. Prana is the life force of the atom. Apana is elimination, or the eliminating force. These are two forces in us—positive and negative—which are governed by ida and pingala—left and right. When we join these two energies under the power and science of Kundalini Yoga, we mix the prana with the apana and, under that pressure, bring the kundalini up. When it passes through the central nerve, or sushmuna, it reaches the higher chakras or lotuses, and thus one can know his total sur­roundings and he is a blessed being.
After one inhales the prana deep down to the navel center, and pulls the apana with the Root Lock up to the Navel Center, prana and apana mix there. This is known as the Nabhi Chakra at the fourth vertebra. Heat is felt during the kundalini awakening, and that heat is the filament of the sushmuna, or central spinal channel, being lit by the joining of prana and apana. Below the Nabhi Chakra, the energy leaves the navel and goes to the lower chakra at the rectum, and then it rises. This is called the reserve channel. Then there are six more chakras through which the kundalini must rise— and it will happen all at once. Once you have raised it, that’s it. The hardest job is to keep it up, to keep the channels clean and clear.
THE THREE GATEWAYS
The pathway of energy from the rectum to the vocal cord is known as the Silver Cord. From the neck to the top of the head is the passage1. From the Third Eye to the pineal gland is the Golden Cord. To make the energy rise in these cords and passage, you must apply hydraulic locks. You must put a pressure. You know how we take the oil out of the ground, by putting a pressure so that the oil will come out? Like that, your spine the mind from is a staircase of energy. First, mulbandh brings apana to the navel, or
fourth vertebra, the central seat of the kundalini. Second, the diaphragm lock takes it to the neck. Third, the Neck Lock takes it up the rest of the way.
The pineal gland, or seat of the soul, does not work when the Tenth Gate at the top of the head is sealed. But when the pineal secretes as the kundalini heat is released, your pituitary acts as a radar, keeping the mind from negativity.
KUNDALINI: THE NERVE OF THE SOUL
Kundalini is known as the nerve of the soul. This is to be awak­ened; your soul is to be awakened. When the soul gets awak­ened, what else can remain?
In the practical reality, these chakras are imaginary and noth­ing else. This kundalini is just a kundalini and nothing else. It is not very important. These pranas and apanas are just there. Everything is set in us. We lack nothing. We use these terms sim­ply to make the process clear so that we can get on with it. It is very simple. After getting myself into the darkness for years, I found that if I would have known on the first day that it was so easy, I could have saved myself a lot of hassle. When I found out that the kundalini really can come up like this, I was astonished. It was a surprise to me.
That’s it. That is the greatest truth. Truth is bitter, I know. So I cannot speak all the truth. But I speak indirectly and directly about the truth, because I cannot speak anything beyond truth.
THE PRANIC CENTER
The fact is, you cannot breathe by your will. It is the God with­in you which breathes. Without that, you don’t breathe. What is this breath business? I’ll tell you. It is good information for the medical people. Under the eighth vertebra there is a cavity. We call it the pranic center. In that pranic center, we breathe pran­ic energy, up to the tip of the tongue and on to the ida and pin-gala—which adjusts the temperature of the body.
This pranic energy is the life of the atom. We store it in the eighth vertebra down. We know certain actions through which we inhale this pranic energy to awaken our pranic center. The pranic center supplies the pranic energy to the muscles, which are responsible for the beat of the heart and of the diaphragm. We call it the “U” muscle, because it is shaped like the letter “U.” This “U” muscle is responsible for all this life current in you that is automatic and beyond your con­trol.
If fifty years ago I would have come and talked to you about atomic energy, you would have said, “Go away, we don’t under­stand you.” When I talk about pranic energy, don’t feel that I am talking about something mystic. It is practical.
Do you know what yogis do? They create pranic energy reser­voirs in that cavity and thus live on that reserve. They make that cavity active with certain exercises and thus they know how to control the pranic energy or prana vayu, the life current. That’s one aspect of it.
CIRCULATING THE ENERGY
The second aspect is apana which eliminates everything. It has a connection with the muladhara chakra. That is where that kundalini power lies. When the pranic energy is in you, then you can circulate it through your body. You can feel it and make peo­ple feel it. It is a scientific thing which has nothing to do with mystics or something which I can’t explain. It is so simple, so practical.
In that circulation, we time it to go with the spinal cord. Then we make it hit the muladhara. Thus, we pierce through that knot, or blockage to the kundalini power. The moment we do it, she has no option but to come up. The moment she comes up, you stand blessed. Then you will see; the computer will work. That’s all.
Is it difficult? There is no secret about it. In twenty, thirty days, if you honestly practice it about one hour, two hours each day, you can be through with it.
UNDERSTAND THE POWER
Two precautions: You must practice Neck Lock. Pull the neck straight in, keeping the spine and neck absolutely straight, with no bend of the neck. If you do not apply this lock in meditation, you do not naturally regulate the shifts in subtle and physical cir­culation. A sudden flood of energy can overstimulate the nerves and other cells of the brain to expand their activity.
Second, when you do yoga, please, for God’s sake, remem­ber you are playing with the energy which is the lifeforce of the atom. You can therefore well understand what you are doing. I am giving you a word of warning. The prana has been described in the Shastras—the yogic scriptures—as that which makes the atom live. The voltage here in the wall socket is 110. Do you touch it without insulation? No! Then how can you play the pranic energy? The insulation you need is proper preparation and following the proper technique.
The fact remains that with­out having the kundalini awakened, your soul is not awakened. If your soul is awakened, what else do you need? If you will get into the actions that awaken the kundalini, the nerve of the soul, this car of yours will be driven or chauffeured by the soul and not by the negative ego. Then you will have found the God in you. I shall be the greatest man on Earth if I shall be privileged to touch the dust of your feet, if you have that state. Otherwise, you are a nut, and nothing else.


1. Yogi Bhajan is referring to the silver cord of energy that follows the path­way of the spinal cord. The last part of that cord that goes into the base of the old brain begins the passage. The full passage is comprised of two paths that take the energy either over the top of the brain to the pituitary or through the lower part of the brain. From the pituitary to the pineal is the Golden Cord, which is opened only under special conditions.

© YB Teachings, LLC 1969
Above Article Copyright © Yogi Bhajan 2002. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.



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